Mensa is not even close to being as populous as it could be. A few months ago, I estimated from a national membership list that only about 7% of the people who could qualify for the top 2% IQ ranking in the United States end up joining and/or persevering in Mensa. If my math is right, that's .014% of the population. For nonmathematical minds like mine, I would round that figure to about 1/10 of 1%. At first glance, one would think a self-selection mode had culled for an even more elite intelligence ranking.

When examining the reasons various people give for joining Mensa, one hears explanations ranging from vindicating a belief in one's own intelligence to being advised by one's therapist to join. The social effect is of primary importance. Being a member of Mensa is a very minority position. Why join? For us, it's more "Why not?" Celebrating intelligence and its products is a worthy thing to do — and maybe we'll find new friends!

If these were our only characteristics, we would have more of those 7,000,000 or so people in the United States who qualify for our organization. Mensa supposedly has no opinions, but there is a character trait that every membership has, and one facet of American Mensa's character that seems to appeal (with every Annual Gathering [AG] and some Regional Gatherings [RGs] to the prurient and vulgar in its members: The adolescent "adult" giggling at dirty jokes.

I realize that the planners of such gatherings try to accommodate many different tastes. But I don't see those same planners arranging general events at AGs and RGs for parents who actually try to raise their children with a modicum of morality and practice being role models in their daily lives. Nor do they attempt to please those religious and/or ethically refined persons whom we do attract. These folks generally drop out after a year or so, not finding much with which to identify in American Mensa's panoply of offerings, but finding many negative reactions to their moral zeitgeist.

Mental hygiene, abstract reasoning and respect for faith are low on the list of topics valued for speakers at events. Sex, psychics and psychologists are the big draws with our current tenth of a percent — as long as the shrinks don't try to tell us anything is wrong with us. Scatological language and cursing are common among some Mensans; they use their IQ scores as justification for their feeble vocabularies, and nobody asks them to curb their vulgarities.

Locally (Central Oklahoma Mensa), we actually had a Christian minister who went through Mensa's entire proctor training and certification process, conducted a test session for membership, and then promptly dropped out of Mensa. No one bothered to ask her why. Another young man, who came in as a result of the first National Test Day, was selected for a member biography in the local newsletter (Mensokie). He was devoutly religious and served his community through both his work and his volunteer efforts. Definitely a guy Mensa would like to retain, he dropped out after his first year. Again, no one asked him why. We already know, don't we?

Having served as a membership officer and later as a LocSec and editor, I'm aware of many more dropouts — and of people who scored at admission level on the Mensa test but declined to join the organization. Personally, I like Mensa and I like the friendships it has brought me; still, I don't shout from the housetops that I am in Mensa. That's not from embarrassment about my brains; I have never been ashamed of my intelligence. One can be intelligent and still have class. But being associated publicly with vulgarity, rudeness, unrestrained license and bad behavior doesn't require a first-class mind. Of all the purposes we have in American Mensa, MERF is the only practicing example showing that we want to improve society through intelligence rather than smirking at it.

Understanding the problem helps create a possible solution to Mensa's retention and recruitment difficulties. If our actions spoke of attractive and worthwhile reasons to join, we could justify a $49/year expenditure to the qualified who never enroll. I'm tired of seeing my more cultured, wiser and/or more spiritual friends looking at Mensa as if were a dirty joke. I'm especially distressed about seeing them drop out after they've joined — it indicates how narrow our appeal is in a great market of choices. Let's plan for a wide diversity in events — ones that involve some cleanliness in more than a group hot tub.

Why do we get excited about Mensa being mentioned in an ad that appears in Playboy, Blender (a magazine seemingly aimed at preteens) and Maxim, a magazine targeting the young stud version of a Playboy reader? Because we are trying to attract younger people into Mensa, but we won't do it by turning off decent teenagers, GenY, GenX (parents themselves) or us older folks. The latter two groups generally keep the works running. The variety of viewpoints brought by a panoply of ages, cultures, interests and specialties can be of great value to Mensa, and we're not getting all we can.

Membership in Mensa brings the closeness of friendships found locally, across the nation and throughout the world. People of like intelligence meet and agree easily or disagree amicably, in an atmosphere of equals. We find common memories from our culture as if we were family. Our ideas find greater cohesion. The efficient minds of other members can follow the same uncommon-sense paths our own do, so that common bonds grow even stronger in time.

As much as I value my Mensa membership, how much more delighted I would be if Mensa could attract and keep people who have manners and grace, who raise emotional and mental health to an art form. A tee shirt appealing to many Mensans reads, "Mensans should be seen and not herded." Let's make our options wider and more attractive. We need more community outreaches like Project Inkslinger. If there is a SIG for "Degenerate Mensans" (as there used to be), let's balance it with another for "ExeMplar Mensans." Although the SIG called "Hell's Ms" keeps our parties moving along, is there an "M-Angels" anywhere? If we have talks from experts on the physical body, let's have talks from experts on the mental and spiritual. It wasn't the physical body we joined Mensa to titillate, and it isn't the lowest common denominators in humanity that we exalt. When counter-cultural behavior has become the norm in our country and in our behavior, it becomes as rigid as the culture against which it rebelled, yet is actually not the culture. A little healthy rebellion from the counter-counter-culture would not be amiss.

It's time for Mensa to grow up. We have a superb "Kids Trek," which handles topics that could be emulated on an adult level. We have a "Teen SIG," which, as far as I know, trumps us in adult behavior. We don't need to compete with them in adolescent behavior, no matter how amusing we think it looks!

—Nancy Park